With Mills going 2-for-16 in his second game back from a brokenhand, Saint Mary's (25-6) never threatened the Zags in a loss thatendangers the Gaels' hopes for the first back-to-back NCAAtournament bids in school history.

Gonzaga, which moved up two spots in Monday's Top 25 poll afterrouting Santa Clara in Sunday's semifinals, has won eight of thelast 12 WCC tournament titles - but few were so easy. Downs has thelowest scoring average among the Zags' five starters, but heclinched the tournament MVP award with 10 points and 10 rebounds inthe first half against the Gaels.

Saint Mary's finished with 19-for-66 shooting, falling behind by13 points at halftime and never mounting a rally. Mills scored fivepoints, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts before sittingout much of the second half, and his teammates couldn't make up forthe Australian sophomore's woes.

Diamon Simpson had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Omar Samhanadded 17 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels, who must hope theNCAA selection committee appreciates their potential enough tooverlook a poor performance in their biggest game of the season.

There are no such concerns for Gonzaga, which lost the WCCtournament final to San Diego last year. With remarkable depth andconsistency, the Zags have won 16 straight conference games,earning the No. 1 seed for the 10th time in 12 years.

The Zags also have beaten Saint Mary's in 26 of their last 29meetings, preventing a true WCC rivalry from developing. The Zags'only blemish since New Year's Day is a nonconference loss to No. 4Memphis.

Gonzaga's fans are used to traveling at tournament time, so theyhad no trouble filling the bulk of the seats at the Orleans Arenafor the WCC's first neutral-site tournament. Saint Mary's wasrepresented by several hundred Bay Area faithful, but they weredecidedly outnumbered by the Gonzaga faithful that booed Millsearly and chanted "N-I-T, N-I-T" late.

The night got off to an ominous start for the Gaels, who wereassessed a technical foul for dunking in the pregame warmup,although Bouldin only made one of two free throws. Saint Mary'sthen missed its first eight shots while Gonzaga built a 10-pointlead in the opening 4½ minutes, but Samhan helped the Gaels stayclose.

Mills had been out of the Gaels' lineup since he broke two bonesin his right hand during a game at Gonzaga on Jan. 29. While Millsunderwent surgery, Saint Mary's lost four of five games beforerallying with five straight wins to close the regular season.

Mills returned to practice a week ago, and he scored 12 pointson 3-of-12 shooting in the Gaels' semifinal win over Portland,which sent them to their first conference title game since 2005. Hemissed his first seven shots against Gonzaga before making a toughlayup while getting fouled with 1:51 left, but was 1-for-10 in thefirst half.

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